WELCOME

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 6th International ICAN Congress in Johannesburg, in 2016. ICAN is the largest infection control organisation in Africa and has gone from strength to strength in education, training and extensive networking across Africa with membership in 24 countries.

Building on the successes of previous ICAN conferences in Uganda, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa this conference promises to deliver more. The popularity of this unique African IPC conference is its scientific and social programmes and it is supported by CDC and the WHO. The scientific programme blends keynote addresses and state-of-the-art lectures from international experts, plenary sessions that not only addresses global matters such as antimicrobial resistance and stewardship but also African events like Ebola and water borne diseases. Those countries that are in the process of establishing national IPC programmes will have the opportunity to share their experiences with colleagues across the continent. There are several free paper and poster sessions for young scientists to hone their skills in presenting their research from the African continent and beyond.

ICAN supports young African scientists at these international conferences and offers several bursaries and scholarships for high quality abstracts to be presented as posters and oral presentations – there is a prize for the Best Poster and Best Oral Presentation. This year ICAN has established a mentorship programme for improving the quality of submitted abstracts to prepare them for publication in Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control (ARIC), an ICAN affiliated journal under the able Editorship of Professor Andreas Voss.

Professor Dilip Nathwani OBE, from the United Kingdom will present the opening keynote address on antimicrobial stewardship. Following this, there will be an antimicrobial track addressing the challenges and solutions for establishing antimicrobial stewardship in Africa run in collaboration with the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC), Federation of Infectious Diseases of Southern Africa (FIDSSA) and ICAN. The track will consist of a plenary session followed by a workshop to discuss the setting up of such programmes in other African countries. The WHO’s presence in this vital track is anticipated.

Professor Didier Pittet, is a world renowned leader who has spearheaded the most successful hand hygiene global campaign will deliver a keynote with his usual flair and enthusiasm for promoting hand hygiene.

Professor Benedetta Allegranzi, the lead of the newly established Global IPC Unit at WHO headquarters will address the topic of IPC structures and Africa in her keynote presentation.

The Yves Chartier Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Margaret Montgomery, the lead in Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) at the WHO. This newly recognised gap in IPC infrastructure will give an insight into links between WASH and IPC and how these can be strengthened.

Further state-of-the-art Lectures will be presented on Antimicrobial Stewardship by Professor Ramanan Laxminarayan from the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), a recognised authority; Water related infectious diseases by a distinguished African speaker, and the Role of bats in emerging infectious diseases will be the topic for a thought provoking talk by Professor Wolfgang Preiser, Head of Virology Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

The conference will address current topics such as IPC education, mother and child infections, disinfection and sterilization (a major concern in Africa), environmental cleaning, MERSCoV, tuberculosis and IPC. Drawing on the Ebola experience, the role of the community in containing outbreaks will be discussed.

To facilitate attendance by nurses, young scientists and students of IPC, the conference fee has been greatly reduced but early registration is required, so please visit the website and look out for the early deadlines for the submission of abstracts. Remember, for those who submit good quality abstracts there are bursaries and scholarships available to attend the 6th ICAN International Conference – so please ensure that you submit your abstracts early.

Finally, it is our great pleasure to invite you to actively participate, join the network of young scientists, communicate and interact with IPC global leaders, present your research, learn more about IPC in Africa and register early to take advantage of the reduced cost.

We welcome you to South Africa and we hope you have a fantastic scientific and social conference – after all, ICAN is a network!!